Pages

Saturday, August 15, 2015

842. Long Life Salad

Four different kinds of pulses, a gluten-free grain, a hearty green, nuts, dried fruit, fresh fruit, healthy oils, and a hefty punch of fresh citrus is this salad. A fairly long list of ingredients and some prep work is needed, but the pay off if a fantastic one. A long or short life lays in the hands of our Maker, so a mere salad won't change that, but what it does have the potential to do is contribute to a healthy life, whether it is predestined to be a long or short one.
The salad keeps beautifully in the refrigerator long enough to munch on for every lunch for about five days. It also makes the perfect school lunch as its nutritious, filling, and not smelly at all!
Kale might not be easily found outside North America, so if I were to recommend an alternative, it would be cabbage (strangely enough). Kale is a hearty, sturdy green that does not wilt as spinach or silverbeet do.
I got the idea of this salad from a popular TV show visiting diners and showcasing their dishes.

In four separate bowls, soak the kidney beans, lentils, mung beans, and black eyed beans in plenty of water overnight.
Next day, rinse the pulses separately, discarding the soaking water.
Boil each of the pulses separately in plenty of water.
The lentils take about 15 minutes.
The mung beans take about 40 minutes.
The black eyed beans take about 60 minutes.
The kidney beans take about 75 minutes.
Once each bean is done cooking, strain them from their cooking water and allow to cool.
If cooking traditionally over the stove, I suggest starting cooking all at once. If you have a pressure cooker, they will take about a third of the time only.
Cook the cup of quinoa in two cups water, bring to the boil, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and let simmer 25 minutes. Fluff and cool.
Once the pulses and quinoa have all been cooked and cooled, toss them in a large bowl with the shredded kale, chopped pecans, cranberries, raisins, prunes, and cubed mango.
Make the dressing in a mini blender: blitz the lemon peel, orange peel, and ginger until pureed.
Add the lemon juice, orange juice, coconut oil, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and blitz again until honogenous and combined.
Dress the salad and mix well to coat all the components.
Keeps well refrigerated for up to five days.